Christopher Argyros, 31, is a transgender male who lives with his girlfriend in Albany. Surgery, hormone therapy and counseling helped him change sexes after being born and raised a female. (Paul Grondahl / Times Union)
/ Times Union

Christopher Argyros, 31. Lives in Albany with his girlfriend, Laura. Works as transgender rights organizer for Empire State Pride Agenda. Holds a law degree from University of Connecticut School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Vassar College. Graduated from Shaker High School in 1998.

"I look so young, I surprise people when I tell them my age, but in trans years I feel much younger. I'm an only child. I grew up in Loudonville. I had a very stable, calm childhood. I didn't have words for what I was feeling growing up. It's been all kind of retroactive for me. As a little kid, I wanted to grow up to be Luke Skywalker, who is a male figure, but mostly I just wanted Jedi powers. I was a tomboy. In high school, I rowed crew, played soccer, was on the swim team, played French horn in the Empire State Youth Orchestra. I was Christina, but everyone called me Chris."

Gender neutral: "I didn't identify myself as anything. I had a girlfriend for four years in high school, but I didn't consider myself lesbian. I was in love with this person, but we didn't talk about it or have public displays of affection. We were totally closeted until my senior year. I'm sure everybody knew because we got harassed in school. Nothing major, just some nasty comments here and there. I'm not sure why people felt threatened. I wasn't particularly butch. I dressed more like a girl so I wouldn't get picked on. I still didn't know what to call myself. I never heard the word transgender until college. I finally started reading about trans issues on the Internet and it was liberating. My girlfriend and I came out my senior year and it was better to be truthful. We didn't have to hide anymore. My family accepted me no matter what. There wasn't any one big coming-out moment. We discussed it through a long series of conversations and letters."

Experimenting: "I tried on a lot of different identities in terms of gender and sexual expression. I tried being more feminine and then more butch. I had my hippie phase. I didn't know a lot of teenagers who were settled into their identity. At 19, I was reading about transgender and it was like a light bulb went on. I knew the term woman didn't cover me. But I didn't identify as a man and I still don't. I identify as transgender and queer. I don't try too hard to parse the meanings. Transgender is an umbrella term. It's not one size fits all. Gender is all about custom fit."

Transition: "People were very open and accepting at Vassar, but I didn't meet anyone like myself. I met my first trans guy at Smith College, which is pretty ironic since it's an all-women's school. I spent my junior year at Smith. I was interested in women's studies. I was educating myself, but I was being called a male half the time and a female the other half. I lived between genders from ages 20 to 28. I was binding my breasts and was passing as a man about half the time. I had a variety of jobs, from building trails in Texas to working in the kitchen of a vegan tea house on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where everybody was strange. I waited all those years to transition because I wanted to be sure it was the right thing for me. I also wasn't sure how I would be accepted. At 29, I started hormone therapy and got counseling as part of the process. All of the sudden, I started getting facial hair, my voice lowered and I started passing as a man all the time. I had top surgery (double mastectomy) and I'm happy with where I'm at. It cost more than $6,000 and I've paid it off. My family helped me out. I'm not planning any more surgery at this point."

Fluid sexuality: "One of the key aspects of identifying as queer is flexibility in terms of sexuality. Who I'm attracted to is not going to be determined by the person's gender. Calling myself bisexual doesn't ring true to me because I don't see gender as either-or. I've been lucky in love. My girlfriend, Laura, and I have been together for more than a year. She works for an architectural firm. I am certain that I would not have been happy as a woman. It was a feeling that something was not quite right. I felt fraudulent living as a woman. I know a lot of trans people who want to live queer, which is outside gender. My utopian vision is that we can all live free from prejudice and discrimination one day, without gender terms. I've legally changed my name and gender to male on my passport, driver's license and Social Security card. When I took the name Christopher instead of Christina, I needed to change my middle name, too, which was Katherine. I decided to change my middle name to Boone, which is my dog's name. I like the sound of Christopher Boone. But I can't change my birth certificate unless I get a hysterectomy. That's discrimination and it's a human rights issue we're working to change through the Pride Agenda."

Male privilege: "Now that I look like any normal white guy, I find that people are friendlier. Men nod to me when I pass them on the street. There's a whole male communication thing going on I never knew about. My girlfriend and I are taking a ballroom dancing class now. Before, I worried about what people would think of us dancing as a gay couple. Now, since I have this heterosexual privilege, the instructor makes guy jokes with me."